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🇫🇷French Source WordCode: FR

tergiverser

Pronunciation / Transliteration: tergiverser

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Prevaricate/prɪˈvær.ɪ.keɪt/
verbCEFR C2 (Proficient)Top #8500 frequency
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🇫🇷 Example Sentence in French:

"Il a commencé à tergiverser quand on lui a posé des questions sur ses dépenses."

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

1 sense
As verb
  1. 1

    To speak or act in an evasive way; to quibble or stray from the truth.

    "Government officials prevaricated, refusing to give a straight answer to the journalists."
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Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

Derived from the Latin verb praevaricari, originally meaning 'to walk crookedly' (from prae- 'intensifier' + varicus 'straddling', from varus 'bent'). In Roman law, it evolved to describe an advocate who colluded with the opposing side, effectively acting crookedly or shamelessly dodging the truth, before entering English in the 16th century to mean speaking or acting evasively.

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